ALTON - Anna Hall, a forward for the girls' basketball team at Civic Memorial, has been named the Harry Gallatin girls Player of the Year for the second consecutive year.

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The award is named in honor of Gallatin, who played for Roxana High School and Northwest Missouri State, now Truman State University, before embarking on a very successful nine-year career in which he was one of the best players in the early days of the NBA, playing for the New York Knickerbockers and the Detroit Pistons before coaching at SIU-Carbondale and the old St. Louis Hawks in the NBA before becoming the first basketball coach at SIU-Edwardsville. Gallatin died in 2015. The girls Player of the Year award was first presented in 1994.

In the case of Hall, it marked the 10th consecutive year that a CM player has been named girls Player of the Year. Cassie Endicott, Megkinzie Carter, Megan Trost, Allie Troeckler and Kaylee Eaton all have been named Player of the Year for the Eagles during the period, with Trost winning back-to-back in 2013 and 2014, while Troeckler won the honor for three years running from 2015-2017.

The banquet scheduled to honor Hall and other area players tor their efforts this past season was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and Hall was given her plaque in a ceremony this week.

Hall had a great season for the Eagles, helping lead CM to a 29-6 record and the regional championship, losing to Highland in the sectional final at Effingham. She led the team with 16.7 points and 6.7 rebounds-per-game, finishing as the number three on CM's all-time scoring list, and was first-team All-State from the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association. She was also named honorable mention on the Associated Press Class 3A team.

"I think it's a huge honor," Hall said of winning her second straight Player of the Year award, "and I'm real sorry that we couldn't get to do the banquet this year because of everything going on, but I'm still real honored to represent my school."

Perhaps the biggest highlight of the season was the regional championship, where the Eagles defeated East St. Louis in the final at Triad to advance to the sectional. The Flyers had eliminated CM two years before, during Hall's sophomore season, and the win over East Side meant much to her.

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"I would say that one of the biggest highlights was when we won the regional championship against East St. Louis," Hall said. "and the reason I say that is in my sophomore year, we lost to East St. Louis in the regional championship. They were a decent team in both my sophomore and senior years."

The Eagles started out undefeated but overcame both the loss of key player Harper Buhs to a season-ending knee injury and mid-season turmoil which saw the sudden resignation of head coach Jonathan Denney to build their very successful season that ended just short of a berth in the IHSA Class 3A state finals.

"For sure," Hall said. "We had faced a lot of uncertainty in my years at Civic Memorial, and we faced it again when we lost Harper. But we kept playing as a team, and we played well, even after losing Harper."

Hall will play at Missouri Southern State in Joplin, majoring in biology, and she feels that her future looks very promising indeed.

"I think it looks like, I would say, me just having a good relationship with my teammates and coaches," Hall said, "and still continue to work hard on and off the court, making an impact at Missouri Southern State."

Hall beat out a very talented field of finalists for the award. The other Player of the Year candidates were Germaiya Wallace of Alton, Marquette Catholic's Adrenna Snipes, Aubrey Robinson of East Alton-Wood River and Kiley Winfree of Roxana.

In other awards, Taylor Parmentier of EAWR won the 110 percent award, winning over Alton's Justyce Anthony, Marquette's Abby Williams, CM's Tori Standefer and Roxana's Olivia Mouser, while Hall's teammate, Kourtland Tyus, won the free throw percentage award, shooting 75.3 percent curing the season. In addition. the Explorers won the team sportsmanship award.

The Gallatin awards were first presented by the now-defunct Alton Exchange Club in 1946. All previous award winners have been invited back to the 2021 banquet, where the awards' 75th anniversary will be celebrated.

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